Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has withdrawn the official recognition of the suspended paramount ruler of Swali Community, Chief Wilcox Job Seiyefa, over the community’s security crisis and directed that a new traditional ruler be elected within three months.
Deputy Governor Peter Akpe announced the decision on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, during a meeting with Swali stakeholders at the Government House in Yenagoa.
Akpe said the governor acted on the recommendations of a fact-finding committee set up to investigate the crisis.
He said the panel consulted community stakeholders and security agencies before concluding that the traditional leadership failed to provide the decisive leadership needed to tackle the worsening security situation.
Seiyefa and the Swali Council of Chiefs were suspended on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, over allegations of aiding insecurity in the community.
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Akpe said the withdrawal of the monarch’s staff of office and certificate of recognition was approved under Section 6 of the Bayelsa State Chieftaincy Law in the interest of peace, public order and good governance.
He said Governor Diri had ordered the immediate commencement of the process to elect a new Ebeniken of Swali, with the exercise to be completed within three months from Monday, June 30, 2026.
The deputy governor also directed the dethroned monarch to surrender his staff of office and certificate of recognition to the Secretary of Yenagoa Local Government Area within one month.
Meanwhile, the state government inaugurated a five-member electoral committee, headed by Bertola Perekeme, Special Adviser to the Governor on Chieftaincy Affairs, to conduct the election.
It also inaugurated a seven-member caretaker committee for Ogboinbiri Community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, with Monday Edugo as chairman and Moses Areprekumor as secretary.
Akpe urged residents to support the caretaker committee in restoring peace, while Edugo pledged to work towards lasting stability and appealed to the governor to lift the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on the community.